Leak Exposes NVIDIA Tegra 4 Specs, Wayne Is 6X Better Than Tegra 3

Tablets will be even mightier in 2013 as the 4-PLUS-1 architecture carries on

NVIDIA Tegra 4 Wayne specifications slide

NVIDIA said, months ago, that the next-generation Tegra mobile platform would be much stronger than Tegra 3, and now we can lay out all the proof anyone could need to believe that.

The codename of the Tegra 4 platform is Wayne, just like Tegra 3 carries the name of Kal-El, like a certain Kryptonian.

As odd as it sounds, Kal-El is severely outmatched, or will be. Wayne will be six times more powerful than its predecessor.

A roadmap slide depicting the core layout of the SoC (system-on-chip) made its way to Chinese website Chip Hell, somehow.

After the necessary translations, a promising picture took form. Tegra 4 keeps the 4-PLUS-1 architecture of Tegra 3, where there are four main ARM cores and a fifth one that takes over for all the others when nothing strenuous is running.

It is a very efficient method of cutting power consumption. No need to keep everything on full throttle when just looking at a web page after all.

Naturally, besides the ARM cores, a graphics processing unit is used. As seen in the picture, it takes up a fourth of the whole die, with its 72 CUDA cores.

NVIDIA promises very good performance at a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, as well as Full HD (1080p), where the screen refresh rate can be of 120 Hz. Perhaps we'll actually see 3D-capable tablets up for sale before long.

Other than that, the Tegra 4 Wayne includes support for USB 3.0, dual-channel DDR3L memory and, unless our eyes deceive us, 4K support as well.

NVIDIA may or may not launch Wayne at CES 2013 (Consumer Electronics Show), between January 8 and 11. A “delay” until MWC 2013 (Mobile World Congress) in February could happen too. We've heard of PC companies diverting budget away from CES in order to have enough for the latter, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock for NVIDIA to schedule its move for later.